Fielding: If Rudd had guts, he’d super-tax the banks

Family First Leader Senator Steve Fielding says if the Rudd Government is going to be taxing super profits as part of its tax reforms, it should start with the big four banks and their obscene billion dollar profits.

Senator Fielding’s comments come after the Reserve Bank increased official interest rates by 25 basis points, slugging homeowners with even higher monthly mortgage repayments.

“Instead of penalising the miners with a tax for being successful the government should look more closely at the big four banks, which have been ripping off ordinary Australians for decades,” Senator Fielding said.

“Families have been taken advantage of by the big banks for years, who jack up their interest rates well above that of the Reserve Bank without any justification.

“If the PM had any guts he would take on the big banks and make them pay for the years of pain they’ve caused ordinary Australians by ripping us off time and time again.

“The Rudd Government says they’re targeting super profits, so I can’t see why they wouldn’t go after the big four banks, which made a combined profit last year of over 14 billion dollars off the back of Australian families.

“House prices have surged 20 percent so far this year, making it harder and harder for young families to buy a house.

“If there was ever a time to help people get into the market then this is it, because it’s only going to get worse under a business as usual approach.

“I’d like to think we haven’t given up on helping people live the great Australian dream of owning their own home.

“Even the Henry Tax Review points out that escalating real estate prices should be a concern to the government and that they should be doing more to help.

“The banks have been a law unto themselves for far too long, and now people are being pushed to the limit with mortgage stress.”

Comments

  1. Miranda says

    Australians should not be fooled by this budget. Many believe that returning the economy to "surplus" is wiping out our "debt". Do not be fooled. Just because an economy is in surplus "does not" mean that we have eradicated our debt. Australians will have to pay $93.7 billion in interest payments for Rudd's stimulus cash splash. Also, this government are borrowing $700 million a week to support their own reckless spending and in this budget they are spending an extra $26 billion than the last one. How is that economic responsibility?

  2. If krudd had the guts he would admit he has been a major player in destroying our country and say sorry to all of us and then disappear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Mining actually creates real tangible wealth. Banks effectively create money out of thin air, then charge us interest for the privilege of it.

  4. Claire says

    Localyokal, do you really think that Rudd is doing this to give Australians a share of our resources wealth? This is just a tax grab by a government which is so out of control with its addiction to spending that it is now trying to rake it in from anywhere it can and the big mining companies are an easy target because they know that the public really doesn't have much time for them anyway. If Rudd and Labor had a sound economic strategy they wouldn't need to orchestrate these money grabs as of recent days. Your analogy of the Liberals keeping the rich rich at the expense of the poor is so incorrect. Australia was far more prosperous under nearly twelve years of the Liberals than we now are under just two and a half years of Labor. Of course Labor will just regurgitate their ridiculous one liner at this statement, "What about the global financial crisis". So what about it. That was no reason to borrow billions of dollars and throw it around like it grew on trees. Localyokel, if you think Rudd is doing this for the benefit of the average Australian, you are clearly falling for their ALP spin machine. If they really cared, why would they waste billions in accommodating and processing illegal immigrants? Why would they raise our immigration intake to 300,000 when it was at just 120,000 under the previous government? Look at the big picture mate and don't just get hooked on one issue.

    • You have the right idea, Claire. Rudd's tax will drive miners away and cause investors to find other opportunities, probably overseas. That will lead to falls in tax not rises, and larger trade and government deficits. There will also be negative impacts on employment.

      And as you say, in the meantime Krudd is bringing in up to millions of migrants, most of whom have hands out, seeking to feast off the once lucky country.

  5. localyokel says

    What Rudd wants to do with the mining industry is great. The wealth should be spread around. These companies are leasing land that belongs to Australians. The extra taxes will not make the mining industry fat cats poor so what is their problem?

    Rudd should regulate the banks. When they were regulated it kept them honest and the wealth was spread evenly amongst the shareholders, customers and of course the bank.

    I think Rudd is better than those Liberals. Their only objective is to keep the rich, richer at the expense or the poor.

  6. andy coyne says

    yes for sure greed is the biggest crime and gail kelly should be punished but all these greedy bastards would do is up the rates even more to get the same profits just like the power companies are doing because we've all cut back on useage ! each finanical year everything should have price fixing locked in so we can budget without unpleasent surprises. also start taxing religous organisations or ban religion all together as it is the cause of most wars and only based on a fairytail unlike dynosaurs that we do have proof were once here !

  7. Banks are the real rent seekers, the opportunists of the buisiness world who make forced transfers of wealth from those customers who cannot refuse to their own coffers. When most people received wages and salaries in cash, banks had to compete for deposits. But now when people cannot access their own money without going through a bank first, they are subject to imposts such as accounting, transfer and transaction fees, and receive interest on their deposits significantly below that which banks receive on similar amounts.

    On the other hand, miners often bring benefits to the communities they serve apart from employment and the tangible product they market. They are normally engaged in products to conserve the environment. They provide housing, and medical recreational facilities. They also contribute to the export market and stop the country’s trade deficit becoming larger; they may even be instrumental in bringing it into balance or surplus.

    But Krudd’s new tax is likely to drive away many miners, just as it has recently caused Cape Lambert to prefer a $400 million project in Sierra Leone rather than Western Australia.

    I think the Federal Government should get rid of its four pillars policy, as it obviously makes collusion easy; and open up the banking industry to real competition, possibly by having state-based banks the way Westpac was as the Bank of NSW. There were seven major banks in the 1970s. More mergers of large banks should not be allowed, but various functions broken up the way Telecom was divided into the Post Office, and Telstra, or the electricity suppliers have been broken up. It’s not good having very large companies in Australia, despite supposed economies of scale.

    Breaking the banks' strangelhold would make it harder for them to make unwarranted profits that are no more than wealth transfers, and would leave more money for consumers to buoy up other businesses, hopefully genuinely productive ones, that could then afford to pay taxes out of genuine earned profits.

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